


Heart Skipped a Beat

by AppleTeeth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Aftermath, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, fainting spells, fear of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 22:28:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15567720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleTeeth/pseuds/AppleTeeth
Summary: Bruce has always been afraid of the Hulk, but this time, after waking up from a fierce battle, he is afraid of what has happened to the Hulk. Thor is there to look after him and give him the comfort he needs.





	Heart Skipped a Beat

**Author's Note:**

> I got to thinking about the battle at the end of Thor Ragnarok and how Fenrir managed to make the Hulk bleed, if only a little. This is an expansion of this thought and how Thor would take care of Bruce following a brutal fight.

The classic final boss reveal. It was like a bad video game or even worse blockbuster. They had already done at least five rounds a piece with the army of monsters that had fought them back from dismantling an earth-shattering device. It seemed more than once that they would fail in their mission, but by sheer will they had managed to fight back and finally it looked like they had won.

But no, the evil force behind all of the misery of that day had just laughed and, with a casual wave of her hand, something large and snarling had emerged from the wormhole she had created. It was bigger than anything they could ever remember fighting previously and it salivated as it looked upon the already weary defenders of the planet. 

“Oh fuck,” Tony not out of shock but more disgust at this cliché move from their enemy. The monster seemed to grin, revealing more teeth than should possibly fit inside one mouth and with a howl that echoed for miles, it lumbered towards the group.

“Strategy,” Clint yelped as he pulled out three arrows at once, “Now!”

“Hulk, Thor, draw it back,” Steve shouted just as the beast leaped across to close the gap between them and try to take a bite out of anything in its path. “Tony, Tash, try to get to that bomb. Clint and I will distract her royal highness.”

“You smash, I’ll strike him from above,” Thor said to Hulk who looked more than a little annoyed he was being bossed around. Still, the monster was trying to take a swipe at his friends and Thor was good at fighting, so he leaped up and threw out his fist to serve a blow to the creature that should make even gods plummet to the ground.

Except the monster saw the green cannonball coming its way and opened its massive jaws in preparation. There were audible gasps as the creature snapped closed its teeth and began to shake Hulk violently like a dog with a chew toy. Hulk roared in first shock and then anger as he was being shaken so much he couldn’t take a swing back. It was only Thor’s strike of lightning (usually something Hulk hated) that caused the monster to loosen its grip enough for Hulk to wriggle free from its jaws and fall to the ground.

Thor struck the creature again as Clint fired arrow-bombs into its open mouth and it was stunned long enough for Tony and Natasha to get past and head for the bomb they were desperately trying to dismantle. Thor grinned in pride before he saw a sight that scared him to his very core.

Hulk was standing up again, shaking himself off and looking ready to go in for another attack, but only one arm raised into a fist and he looked down in confusion. This other arm was dangling by his side, the bite marks so large and deep the white of bone was exposed.

“My friend…” Thor said softly. He always called Hulk this, even if he was certain Hulk didn’t actually like him. Hulk looked up and grunted loudly.

“Big bite,” he said, shrugging so that his torn arm flopped back and forth a little and great drops of blood landed on the ground

“Are you alright?”

Hulk grunted again, which meant either he really didn’t care or he was acting as his usual childlike self and pretending it didn’t bother him when it really, really did.

“Can I help?” Thor asked, feeling dumb for asking because the moment he did Hulk looked furious at the idea.

“Hulk fine!” he shouted. “Hulk strongest there is!”

And Thor couldn’t argue with that when the Hulk, left arm barely holding together, shot up into the sky to deliver another blow to the creature, this time careful to avoid its mouth.

 

“Wait! It’s healing!”

“Thank God…”

“This is crazy, this is fucking crazy…”

“Someone grab a blanket!”

“Look at his arm…”

The familiar fuzz of his brain rebooting after changing back was making the voices around him fade in and out like passing cars. There was a tremendous pain that was thumping around his body with every heartbeat, which meant it had been a hard battle. It was slowly waning as he was coming back to his senses, but the voices around him weren’t helping.

It seemed he was somewhere outside because he could feel the odd droplet of rain on his body and the cold air was making his teeth chatter. Just as a blanket was being bundled over him he opened his eyes and he could see only green.

He gasped before his mind could fully comprehend what he was looking at. His arms and chest were coated in a sickly green colour and the precise shade scared him to his very core. 

“Bruce, it’s okay,” a voice told him but he was crying out in shock, still not entirely sure why he was so scared. “It’s over, I promise, Banner. Banner? Look at me.”

His head whipped towards Clint who was holding him tightly, rubbing his back in comfort. Focusing on the other faces around him, he could see the rest of the team looking just as beat up and exhausted as Clint. He tried to focus on them instead of the green, but that was hard when it looked like it coated the very ground around them.

“Please… what…” He hadn’t heard his own voice sound so small and scared in a very long time. 

“He needs to get out of here,” Steve said. “We all do. Let’s go.”

Bruce was helped to his feet by Clint and Tony and he could barely walk he was shaking so hard. He could feel tears burning his eyes and when he went to wipe his eyes his hands were coated in the green blood as well.

Blood. It was blood. His brain was catching up to what his gut had been telling him since he he had woken up, but perhaps it was trying to protect him, because from knowing that fact he felt the urge to vomit come thick and fast. 

“Bruce?” Tony asked worriedly as his friend pitched his body forward and wretched loudly. “Hey, it’s okay, we won. You’re fine, your other side just got a little scratched up is all.”

There was blood everywhere. Not just on Bruce but on his friends who had helped him and soaking into the very ground, more than likely poisoning the soil for good. It wasn’t just a scratch and by the looks on everyone’s faces, they were amazed he had even come back from his alter ego. His whole body was shaking as he could barely breathe and concerned voices spoke around him, both trying to reassure him and figure out what to do. 

They helped him to the quinjet waiting for them and it took off as soon as the doors closed. Bruce was sat down into a chair and he was still shaking, his eyes firmly shut as he tried not look at the blood. Tony gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before he gave him some space and Bruce put his head between his knees, his face in his hands as he tried to stop his vision from turning to static.

What could they had possibly fought that could have hurt the Hulk like that? 

Still feeling like he could vomit at any second, he looked up at the team and suddenly panic overcame nausea. 

“You all need to get cleaned up. Now.”

“We will, Bruce, we’re nearly home.”

“No, right now. My blood--” and the urge to throw up came in a sudden wave that made him put his hand to his mouth. He swallowed thickly and continued. “My blood, his blood is poison. It could hurt you.”

Everyone looked more worried now and Clint pushed a few buttons on the control panel so the speed of the jet increased suddenly.

“I’ve got a decontamination suite we can head to as soon as we land,” Tony said. 

“What about you?” Thor asked Bruce, who was back to holding his face in his hands as he took deep, long breaths. 

“It… can’t hurt me.” 

He was glad nobody asked him how he knew that fact, because he would have nothing to back it up other than sharing a brain with the Hulk. His body shivered and he tried to contemplate the injuries his other half had sustained. Something that strong surely could have killed the entire team? Usually Bruce was thankful he had no memories of the Hulk but this time was different.

He wondered if the other guy was just as scared as him?

The jet was finally landing and everyone piled out except for Thor, who wanted to make sure Bruce was okay.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m just a little dizzy right now. Go get cleaned up.”

“If it is the radiation in his blood you are worried about, then fear not. It can’t hurt me either.”

Bruce looked up at Thor curiously who took the opportunity to sling Bruce’s arm over his shoulders and help him up. The thought that Thor wasn’t in immediate danger from the Hulk’s blood seemed to give him enough strength to make his way to his apartment, though he was still shaking enough Thor had to steady him the entire way.

 

Without his glasses, Bruce could only watch a slightly blurred Thor help him out of the remains of his clothes. They were in one of the lavish bathrooms Tony had the gall to call ‘compact ensuites’ in the compound and Bruce had been sat on the edge of the bath big enough to comfortably seat four. Bruce covered himself with his hands as Thor turned on the taps to the bath and soaked a large towel in the rapidly filling tub. 

“What happened?” Bruce asked, feeling as ever after a battle, like the stupid bystander who the team had to rescue. Thor wrang out the towel and knelt down in front of Bruce to start wiping the blood from his chest.

“The enemy had a final creature to unleash on us. I had heard of them but never seen one in the flesh. A Charybdis, usually only found in the ocean surrounding Asgard and long since extinct, or at least I thought. It was near impenetrable to all of our attacks and it…” Thor stopped for a moment, now looking Bruce in the eyes, “It nearly tore Hulk’s arm clean off. I’ve never seen anything come close to even penetrating his flesh before.”

Bruce instinctively grabbed his right arm and rubbed where he knew, somehow he knew, the monster had bit down. Thor got up and sat next to him, putting his arm around the shaking man who looked like he could break at any second. 

Bruce had of course seen blood before. His own more often than not, but sometimes the blood of friends, of lovers, of enemies who wanted him dead. All instances were downright terrifying, but he had never felt fear like when he had seen the green stains. 

“I’ve never seen… his blood before,” Bruce said quietly. “Never. Not even after the worst attacks.”

“Then it was no surprise you were so scared when you awoke,” Thor said, rubbing Bruce’s shoulder maybe a little harder than he intended, but it was comforting all the same. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He got up and reached for Bruce’s hand that was back trying to cover himself up but he reluctantly accepted and was taken over to the massive shower, again fit for far more than one person. 

Thor guided Bruce under the jets and immediately that deep shade of green began to flow down his body and down the drain. It pooled around his feet and he felt the nausea overcome him for a moment, before Thor held his shoulder to keep him upright and spoke softly in his ear. 

Bruce realised, as he was being covered in some sweet-smelling shower gel that Thor was now soaking wet in his clothes and he tried to say that he was fine and he could finish cleaning himself but he couldn’t and the words stuck in his throat. Thor was massaging the gel into his body, being careful not to get too rough but also making sure Bruce felt the comfort from the touches. It wasn’t like it was the first time a member of the team had seen Bruce naked, but nobody had ever got so close with him. Not like this.

“Is everyone okay?” Bruce asked so quietly it seemed it was to himself. He looked up at Thor urgently and then called out, “JARVIS, is everyone okay?”

“If you are referring to their exposure to the Hulk’s blood, then they are in perfect health. There were minor injuries sustained from the battle, but these are being seen to.”

“Oh thank God…” Brce breathed, placing a hand on the tiled wall to steady himself. Thor thanked JARVIS and then continued to clean his friend.

“You may not always appreciate this, but I have to tell you that the Hulk fought valiantly today, despite the strength the monster wrought,” Thor explained, now massaging shampoo into Bruce’s hair. “We were all afraid that the injuries he sustained would transfer onto you during the change, which was why we probably gave you a fright when you woke up.”

“No, you didn’t. It was nice to know people… care,” he finished lamely. Thor was digging his fingertips into his scalp and he couldn’t help but moan in appreciation. There was always a lingering headache that came with the transformation and this was curing it nicely.

“I can’t even keep a papercut these days,” Bruce said without thinking. “Why I’m aging has been a mystery to me seeing as no other part of me seems to change. I’m starting to think the Hulk is what’s aging me and not time itself.”

Thor nodded in contemplation. “That might make sense. The use of tremendous power can age an Asgardian beyond their years. You might be the same.”

The mention of his people made the situation they were currently in seem even more strange, and Bruce couldn’t help but mention it.

“You’re… a prince.”

“Yes.”

“So why are you doing this?” he blurted out, guestering at the two of them standing in the shower.

“You think taking care of the people I think highly of is somehow beneath a prince?” Thor asked, guiding Bruce’s head under the jets to wash off the suds.

“Uh…”

“Because you are right,” and he laughed merrily. “But I am not in the palaces of Asgard and I know just how satisfying this is following a battle, especially one that had brought great suffering.”

“So you… do this…”

“Banner, you are the only one I would wish to do this to. You and your other side mean a great deal to me, and to see you so distraught following a battle where you saved the planet made me wish to treat you like the warrior you are.”

As Thor continued to scrub Bruce’s body, Bruce was unable to think of what to say or ask or frankly, do, given that revelation. It certainly wasn’t what Bruce was expecting, but given that he had been hiding a crush on the god since the moment they had met, it hit him like a bolt of lightning. And now that Thor was taking care of him in an intimate setting plucked right out of his fantasies, it was almost enough to make him faint for other reasons that the blood being washed from his body.

Thor could definitely tell that Bruce was uneasy and he sighed.

“I apologise. I meant… of course I would do this to any of my teammates. Only they are aware of their strengths and worth and you are not.”

Oh.

“Thank you,” Bruce said quieter than he intended and tried to hide his disappointment.   
Thor smiled and reached across to turn off the shower. “I think you are finally clean. Do you feel better?”

He nodded and Thor grabbed the largest of the towels to help him dry off. Bruce wanted to shrug him off, feeling he had the strength to do it on his own, but he stumbled a little as he stepped out of the shower and that was enough for Thor to fuss over him once again.

The demigod rubbed his limbs with the towel and was now concentrating on his hair, trying to squeeze most of the water out of his curls. Bruce’s nausea had downgraded to a numbness in his body, but he had a feeling it had more to do with the revelation than his own fear of what had happened to the Hulk.

“Have I made you uncomfortable?”

The gentle question made Bruce jump and he tried to play it off as his feet slipping on the wet tiles. Thor steaded him once again, concern in his kind eyes as he watched Bruce try to look away nonchalantly. 

“No… It’s not you, I promise you.”

“You seemed disappointed when I said I would do the same kindness for your teammates.”

Bruce balked, feeling like Thor was a damn mind reader. Usually he was very good at hiding his feelings, so for somebody to get it right in one was a little frightening. Plus, it made him sound like a selfish prick. Of course Thor would do this for his teammates. He had no hang-ups about the human body or appearing supposedly weak in front of others. 

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said quietly. “No, it’s not that. I think I’m just freaked out and tired and I need to eat--”

His excuses were cut off short as Thor placed a gentle finger under the smaller man’s chin and lifted it delicately, angling it towards his own lips. He kissed Bruce, wrapping an arm around his naked chest and pulling him towards him. Bruce made a surprised sound for a moment, before the situation rushed to the rational part of his brain and he kissed back, putting his arms around Thor’s neck.

Gasping, he parted so he could open his eyes and finally focus on Thor properly for the first time since they had entered the bathroom. Thor was smiling warmly and looking like he had just won a lottery or ten.

“Would…” and then he laughed at his own stupid joke before he had finished it, “Would you do this to our teammates?”

“Never. They don’t get naked in front me nearly as often.”

Bruce put his face in his hands, realising that he was very much naked. He felt his cheeks heating up from embarrassment and he slowly lowered one hand to cover himself up once more. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising? I mean, it may not be the most subtle way to show one's’ affections but--”

“Oh shut up.” And Bruce yelped as a strong arm scooped around his shoulders and pulled him into the other man’s chest. Thor’s t-shirt was still soaking wet but he couldn’t stop himself and clutched him tightly, breathing him in.

With a soft nudge to get Bruce out of the way, Thor grinned and removed his t-shirt and jeans quickly. Bruce tried not to gape but it was damn hard when the man looked like… that. Bruce could feel his body was reacting to the sight and Thor looked him up and down hungrily. 

Thor dragged Bruce back under the shower and turned it on as he kissed the smaller man urgently and tenderly. He was exploring Bruce’s body and making him sigh in delight the lower he went. Finally, he was on his knees in front of Bruce and kissing the inside of his thighs, teasing him with what he wanted to do. 

“I should be Hulking out…” Bruce muttered, his eyes closed and his head tilted towards the ceiling. 

“I don’t mean to be rude to your companion, but I’m here for you exclusively.” Thor then corrected himself, fearing how he sounded, “Not that I don’t like the Hulk, far from it, but he…”

“He has the mental capacity of a six year old. Please don’t think you’re offending me,” Bruce laughed huskily. “But this should set me off… oh…” he swallowed thickly as Thor kissed the head of his penis. “...Especially something like that.”

“He just fought valiantly and nearly lost an arm. You probably couldn’t Hulk out if you wanted to. Which is a good thing,” Thor said matter-of-factly and then Bruce watched his penis slip into Thor’s mouth. He made a sound like all the air had been sucked out of the room and if it weren’t for the shower drenching him, he might pass out right then. 

Thor was sucking gently and moving his tongue up and down the shaft, steading himself by grabbing Bruce’s ass and squeezing it. Bruce spluttered for a second in shock before he groaned and thrust his hips, just a little, finding a rhythm. 

Bruce looked down and saw Thor’s wet lips around his cock, his eyes watering slightly but full of arousal and he gasped, raking his fingers through Thor’s hair. Thor hummed in content and went just a little bit deeper, testing his own reflux and, when comfortable, began to bob his head. Bruce had to steady himself against the tiles, now panting as he felt his vision begin to blur and brighten to whiteness. Thor squeezed his ass and pumped the base of his cock roughly and Bruce couldn’t hold back even if he tried. Bruce was barely remaining upright as he groaned loudly in pleasure and Thor swallowed every last drop. 

“Easy there,” He wasn’t aware of time passing but Thor was now stood up and holding Bruce gently as he returned to earth. He still had his hand on Bruce’s ass and was patting it gently, a big grin on his face. Bruce stood up on tiptoes so he could kiss him once more and Thor reached down to meet him so they could share a long, careful kiss.

“We should… uh… get cleaned up.” He then realised his faux pas and stammered, “Wait, no, I should return the favour...”

“Later,” Thor said gently and kissing Bruce sweetly on the lips. “I must say, you look incredibly when you spill your seed.”

Bruce choked on a laugh and put his arms around Thor’s neck. He paused before he said what he was thinking, because it was filthier than he was used to expressing.

“You look really, _really_ good with a dick in your mouth.”

He thought he had gone too far but Thor beamed in delight. 

“Then I will spend more time in that position.”

Bruce thought he might faint once more at that statement and clutched onto Thor’s shoulders to steady himself. Thor laughed and kissed Bruce’s forehead gently.

**Author's Note:**

> Bruce's reaction to seeing Hulk's blood is completely based on how I react as I'm prone to fainting spells.


End file.
